Seeds on course in San Diego

NEWS ARTICLE

Mariana Hollman (USA)

SAN DIEGO, USA: Day 2 of the Seniors World Team Championships saw all the seeds in action, many of them for the first time in the tournament, and the results reflected the quality of the tennis displayed by some of the world’s top senior players. Almost all of the highly seeded teams across every age category recorded 3-0 wins over their opposition, and on a day when rain lead to a late start and an early finish, the top players did not waste much time on court.

Several doubles matches were left unfinished when rain stopped play in mid-afternoon, including the deciding doubles in the Maureen Connolly Cup (women’s 55) tie between third seeds Australia and unseeded Argentina. Argentina had lost their first round robin match to South Africa on Monday and so expectations were not high against the 2011 bronze medallists. However, Maria Cecilia Rey Saravia beat Suzanne Ellis to give the underdogs the lead before Lyn Mortimer levelled the tie with a straight sets win over Gloria Moreno Quintana. With Australia taking on fifth seeds South Africa on Wednesday as well as completing the deciding doubles, there is everything to play for in this group.

The Australia-Argentina clash was very much the exception to the rule however, as no other team seeded in the top four in any age category needed a deciding doubles. Maureen Connolly Cup fourth seeds France lost the dead doubles against the Netherlands, but top seeds USA and second seeded Great Britain had 3-0 wins over Sweden and Ireland respectively.

The only other team seeded in the top four to lose a rubber was Germany, fourth seeds in the Margaret Court Cup (women’s 45), who also lost a dead doubles to Sweden. The biggest win of the day came in the Suzanne Lenglen Cup (women’s 35), as Great Britain defeated Brazil without dropping a game, helped by an injury to one of the Brazilian players.

Wednesday sees the completion of the round robin phase of the competition, with many seeded teams having to face each other in a battle to top their respective groups and qualify for the semi-finals.